Networking software could always be run on x86 servers, yet there are many good reasons specialized networking hardware from Cisco, Juniper, or similar vendors is the standard in any decent datacenter.I don't see anything from Intel that can change that in the nearest future. Reply

I read the article. Can someone please explain this in layman's terms? I don't have any experience with servers.

It looks like they are aiming to do a few things here: greatly simplify the server hardware design (a lot more computing power per square inch), virtualize the network hardware, and speed up deployment time of something.

Where are the hard drives? I imagine you don't need any for most of those little compute cards.

Since Broadwell is an SoC now, when is there any benefit to running Atom-based servers? Broadwell is way faster than atom. Do Atom servers take up more space, but give better performance per watt?

If each one of those cards is a CPU and RAM, what are the physical connectors for? Power and networking? How are they interfaced to eachother?

And why is there so much empty space? I'm guessing to allow for larger heatsinks.Reply

Well, I did not explain the server part in great detail. Basically, complex storage and network devices are being replaced by "normal" x86 boxes and software.The harddrives will be accessed somewhere via the network or the SATA interface going through the "gold fingers". The physical connectors are for power/networking fabric/USB/SATA etc.Empty space: it is an early prototype. Reply

"Since Broadwell is an SoC now, when is there any benefit to running Atom-based servers?"Broadwell will be probably in the 40W area, Atom CPUs can be as low as 6W. So for applications that are mostly about I/O might still be better off with the Atom CPUs. To be honest: I am not sure. That will an interesting question to answer with some in depth reviews :-)Reply

Intel are not leading in this space anymore. The announcements above are an admission that the directional path being cut by competitors is actually a viable one, so Intel are starting to copy them, for example with the server chassis being shown here. This is good for the industry as a whole, but not so promising for Intel.Reply

I think Intel can afford to be a "fast follower" instead of a leader in some of these non-core markets like DC and mobile. They have huge brand recognition and enough resources to make a strong entry even if they aren't first.Reply

I can also make a bunch of slides and throw in some buzzwords ( SDN, up and running in minutes ). I'm a network engineer and I work in enterprise datacenter environment on a daily basis. All this 'I push a button and everything gets magically provisioned and configured' is vaporware. Let me know which company that can make this type of product. I will buy their shares.Reply